Ducks A-Z: Jonas Hiller

Maybe it became official when he signed a four-year contract extension worth $18 million on Jan. 30 but the signs of the Ducks pointing to Jonas Hiller as their No. 1 goaltender were presented before the pen hit the paper.

Even with former franchise netminder Jean-Sebastien Giguere itching to reclaim his job, Ducks coach Randy Carlyle went to Hiller 11 consecutive times early on even as the team was struggling to find a groove. Carlyle then went to Hiller on back-to-back nights in December against Colorado and Phoenix to see if he could get past his tendency to struggle on the second game in those scenarios.

It didn't work then but that didn't keep Ducks GM Bob Murray from thinking that the days of alternating Giguere and Hiller every few games were over. Save for a game against Washington in which Giguere was showcased for his eventual trade, Hiller started every game from Jan. 5 until March 24.

The move turned out to be one that was long overdue as Hiller shined even as he faced a barrage of shots behind a defense that no longer possessed the menace it had in previous seasons. His strong play from January on was one of the big reasons why the Ducks were able to stay on the fringe of the playoff race as long as they did.

There is no more 1A or 1B as Carlyle often referred to the pecking order with his goaltending. For the first time in his four NHL seasons, Hiller will enter training camp as the main man.

What he did: The early part of 2009-10 for Hiller mirrored that of his team as he won three starts in a row early but only put wins together once until Dec. 12 against Columbus and Dec. 16 against Vancouver. He was yanked from a home start Oct. 17 against St. Louis and gave up all six goals in an Oct. 26 loss to Toronto but turned aside 40 shots Nov. 5 in a 4-0 win over Nashville. Another low point came when he was burned for six goals Nov. 14 in a 7-4 loss to Detroit, four of which came in a decisive third period. Hiller got it going at the season's midpoint as he won 12 out of 16 starts from Dec. 12-Jan. 19. Nine of his career-high 30 wins came in January, which was the most for a Ducks goalie in a month since Giguere had nine in March of 2006. The highlight of a five-game win streak came Jan. 10 at Chicago when he stopped 42 of 43 shots against the eventual Stanley Cup champions in one of the best performances of his career. Hiller kept up his strong play for Switzerland in the Olympics as he posted wins over Norway and Belarus while taking Canada to a shootout and keeping his country close in games against the U.S. He incurred back spasms prior to a March 29 game against Dallas and was sidelined for five contests before he returned to make a season-high 49 saves in an April 8 shootout loss to the Stars.

What could happen in '10-11: In his three previous seasons, Hiller has had save percentages of .927, .919 and .918 which bode well for the immediate future as he'll be leaned on like never before. The Swiss goalie has shown flashes of brilliance and rarely has had an outright terrible game in the net. He'll need to keep that up as it appears that the Ducks will go more in the direction of having the low-cost Curtis McElhinney as his backup rather than signing a more experienced veteran. The quality of Hiller's play shouldn't suffer as he is at his prime at the age of 28 but the bigger question may be his workload. Hiller proved that he can grab the net for an extended time period but he faced an average of 33.4 shots per outing -- along with all the heavy lifting he did for his native land at the Olympics -- and came up lame prior to a late-season game against Dallas. Were the back spasms the result of all that work? That isn't known but the Ducks certainly hope that they won't become a recurring isssue this season. Unless Murray can add a rough, stay-at-home type that can block shots and help clear the crease, Hiller is likely going to need to push his play up another level -- perhaps even to All-Star level -- to get his transitioning club into playoff contention in 2011. But the talent is there.

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